


Almost As Planned

by taibhrigh



Series: 50 Sentences or 15 minute ficlets [10]
Category: Gundam Wing
Genre: Fifteen Minute Fic, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-29
Updated: 2020-09-29
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:27:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,326
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26716726
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/taibhrigh/pseuds/taibhrigh
Summary: Duo has a mission; it gets sidetracked a little.
Series: 50 Sentences or 15 minute ficlets [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1905571
Kudos: 10





	Almost As Planned

**Author's Note:**

> **15 minute ficlet:** You pick a word, picture, some type of prompt, grab a pencil/pen and paper (or tablet/keyboard), start a timer and write. If you are lucky you have something. The only changes from what was written in the 15 minutes to posting are typos, grammar, and writing shorthands.
> 
>  **Prompt:** purloin
> 
> Not beta'ed.

It was supposed to be a simple task. In and out. Stealth was his forte even though to the others he was anything but that. But why give up all of his secrets.

Duo followed the map in his head to his exit. Weaving in and out of the shadows. Only pausing twice more to mess with different systems that when they failed hours and days later would look like someone in an office had done something stupid. He was hoping the one would cause a cascade failure; but if it didn't it would still take them days to fix the damage and this little hidden base masquerading as an office building would no longer be hidden.

He turned left and then had to shimmie into a hiding place between a vending machine and a wall. A corner mirror giving him a view. The guards were making an out of cycle jaunt down the hallway and they were dragging something; correction, someone.

He almost ignored it as he re-worked his exit strategy since they had come from the way he had been headed. The prisoner's long black hair fell around the head, dark clothes. The body said male though and not female. Drops of blood followed the two guards and their prisoner as they moved further down the hall. It wasn't until he heard the guards speak that he changed his mind.

"Do you think we've caught one of those Gundam pilots? Thought they would have been smarter than to set off the alarm on the office door." 

"Gotta be a collaborator."

Duo had not disabled any of the alarms when he had entered as that could be just as much of a signal as setting off an alarm. He followed the guards progress. The hair meant it was Chang. Not one of his biggest fans. Part of that was on him; part of that was on Chang. But why anyone would send him on a stealth mission was beyond Duo. Yes, Chang could be quiet but like Heero both were very much the direct sort.

He growled to himself and moved to ghost behind the guards. Moving to stay out of the camera and view of the guards. If they thought they just had a collaborator and not an actual pilot then who was he to change that belief. He followed them to a room he knew was the base's brig. He ducked into a doorway and watched them toss Chang into a cell and lock the door.

"We need to let the Commander know."

"Yes, maybe that reward money will be ours."

Duo rolled his eyes.

He watched the guards leave before closing his eyes and running through several scenarios. He settled on three but would have to wait to see what condition Chang was in.

Counting silently to himself, he moved when he hit five. Opened the door rolled to the left while still managing to tap the door to close. This put him under the swing of the camera that monitored the cells.

"Chang," he hissed.

Nothing.

"Oh-five, wakey, wakey," he said a little louder. 

Still no response. 

"I will leave your fucking ass in that cell Chang Wufei," he hissed through clenched teeth because from his angle he could tell Chang was at least awake and somewhat alert.

"Two?" came the response, and the voice was tinged with pain and maybe annoyance.

"Yeah, but don't move. Just continue to lay there," Duo answered, pulling something out of his pack. "Will you be able to run?" Dou rethought that comment. "Or at least move quickly?"

"Yes."

"Positive?" he questioned.

"Yes." This time the answer was the gruff are you an idiot sound that Duo was used to hearing from Chang. 

"Excellent." Duo shifted down the wall. "You are going to need to hide what I'm going to slide to you. We have the count of ten to do this."

Duo took the item he had been prepping and put it on the floor. Gliding it across the floor back and forth. He started counting out loud after the second pass. On three he let it go. It hit the side of the wall and slid under the bars of the cell before changing directions and coming to a stop near Chang at the count of seven. Chang shifted slightly and had it before the camera panned to the spot. Even if a person saw the small movement on the camera they would hopefully think their prisoner was just waking.

"You will need to unroll that and place it on the wall about mid-body height and make a rectangle. It will be easier. Wall to your right backs up against the side treeline. Well, after about a fifty meter sprint."

_==== and this would be where the clock for the 15 minutes stopped ===  
=== because I'm not that mean and I knew where this was going, there is more === _

"The data?" Chang questioned.

Duo huffed. "Was on my way out with it when you decided to crash the party." Duo was getting ready to exit and thought better of it. "I will beam a copy of it to Shenlong."

"How?"

Duo glanced down at his watch. Time was running out; his second exit window was coming fast and he had no plans to stay here any longer than he needed. Especially since security had already silently caught an intruder. "That would be for later." He would let Chang try to figure out how he got the data or was it how he knew his Gundam's name that was being questioned. Didn't matter.

"When I say mark, start counting to one hundred. Blow the wall then. Do not blow it early. The guards should be away from this area ninety seconds from mark."

Watching the camera pan away from the door, Duo moved. The door was closing as he said, "Mark."

Duo moved quickly, still staying out of the cameras. He made it into the room he had been aiming for. Opened his pack, tucked his braid into his jacket, put on a white coat and a pair of glasses, before opening the door. At this point he no longer cared about the cameras; just the timing.

He pulled on a strap and his pack became a stachel which he draped from his shoulder. He joined the milling crowd exiting the building from the night shift. He was just outside the door when the alarms started. There had been no explosion as the cable he had given Chang simply burned through the wall.

Like the crowd he was in, he ran with them as they scattered. Five minutes later he was on a bus. Twenty after that walking through the cliffside park and down a barely visible path to where Deathscythe sat cloaked up against the cliff wall waiting for his return.

He looked up at his buddy. "Boy, do I have a story to tell you," he said, climbing to the area that would let the wrench line down. He talked the whole time he was riding up to the cockpit and then he was in his seat and initiating controls.

Checking to make sure all the files had made it to Deathscythe. He compressed them again and sent a copy to Shenlong as he promised. He was already in the air when his com pinged with a request for a vidchat.

Duo recognized the code. "Oh-five," he answered, turning to look at the camera and screen.

"Duo." And that had been unexpected, he hadn't even been sure Chang knew his first name. "Thank you for the data and the rescue. I am in your debt."

Also unexpected.

"Sure," he shrugged. "You'll owe me one," he grinned. "But leave the stealth missions to oh-three and me."

"Yes," Chang acknowledged with a slight bow of his head and then cut the connection.

"Okay buddy," he said, still staring at the screen. "That was weird, right?"

-end-


End file.
